Jimmy Spoils

Jimmy Spoils (1832-16 July 1863) was a member of the Dead Rabbits gang of New York City.

Biography
Jimmy Spoils was born in 1832 in New York City to a family of free African-Americans, and he became a criminal. He was a friend of Johnny Sirocco, and the two of them took part in several robberies. In 1862, he got into a fight with Amsterdam Vallon in the catacombs under Paradise Square before Amsterdam introduced himself as the son of the late Dead Rabbits leader Priest Vallon, getting Johnny to recognize him; Jimmy's nose was broken in the fight. They proceeded to work together in the robbery of a ship before the Daybreak Boys could arrive, but they were too late; instead, they sold the body of a US Navy watchman to an alleyway doctor for some money.

In 1863, Jimmy Spoils joined Vallon when he re-formed the Dead Rabbits gang to fight against William Cutting and his powerful Natives gang. He was not allowed to take part in the climactic gang battle against the Natives in the Five Points in July 1863 because the Irish gangsters did not want an African-American with them; he had to deal with racism often, including when Gary McGloin criticized Vallon for letting him into a church. On 16 July 1863, during the New York draft riots, he was attacked by a large crowd of protesters, who murdered him and left his body on the streets; he was spared the hanging and immolation deaths of many other African-Americans that were targeted by the mob.